Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) Shares Acquired by MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SWX) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.’s holdings in Southwest Gas were worth $2,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Gas by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,696,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $473,520,000 after purchasing an additional 38,710 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,322,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $234,905,000 after purchasing an additional 105,549 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southwest Gas by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,270,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,807,000 after acquiring an additional 4,235 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Gas by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,030,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,850,000 after buying an additional 27,407 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southwest Gas by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,054,000 after purchasing an additional 12,913 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SWX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Southwest Gas from $76.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southwest Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Southwest Gas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 2,100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $156,660,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,532,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $561,932,258.40. This trade represents a 21.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southwest Gas Price Performance

Southwest Gas stock opened at $71.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $72.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.52. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.31 and a 52 week high of $80.29.

Southwest Gas (NYSE:SWX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Southwest Gas had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 79.74%.

About Southwest Gas

Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, distributes and transports natural gas in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The company operates through Natural Gas Distribution, Utility Infrastructure Services, and Pipeline and Storage segments. It also provides trenching, installation, and replacement of underground pipes, as well as maintenance services for energy distribution systems.